Much of the past work by the KSU Fungal Ecology group has focused on a site on the forefront of a receding glacier. Lyman Glacier study site in the Glacier Peak Wilderness area provides a number of great opportunities to study the successional community dynamics of plants and fungi.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Our group is also working on the identification of  common root-inhabiting endophytes in the tallgrass prairie site at Konza. Preliminary results from this project indicate that a variety of asexual and sterile fungi occupy the mixed grassland communities simultaneously. Multiple species of a single anamorphic genus, Periconia, appear to dominate the root-inhabiting communities.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The group also participates in a collaborative research effort in Australia. That program focuses on identification of habitat and host preferences among below-ground occurring fungi, truffles.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The group has recently initiated a program to understand the importance of mycorrhizal diversity in nitrogen use by ericaceous plants. Thus far we have learned that the species composition within the fungal community is unexpected. Furthermore, it appears that most species vary in their abitlities to use organic and inorganic sources of nitrogen. As a matter of fact, the variation within a species may equal the variation among species!
 
 

Kansas State University
March 17, 2003